Startide Rising
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 Cover of first edition (paperback) |
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| Author | David Brin |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Uplift |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Bantam Books |
| Released | 1983 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback & Hardback) |
| Pages | 462 pp (first edition, paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-553-23495-1 (first edition, paperback) |
| Preceded by | Sundiver |
| Followed by | The Uplift War |
Startide Rising is a 1983 science fiction novel by David Brin and the second book of six set in his Uplift Universe (preceded by Sundiver and followed by The Uplift War). It earned both Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel.
An early work by the now well-known author David Brin, it was extremely well reviewed when it was published, has remained popular, and served as the seed for three more novels which revolved around the crew of the Earthship Streaker (the Uplift Storm Trilogy). It is one of the rare double-winners of both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel along with classic novels such as Dune, Neuromancer, Ender's Game and (more recently) Paladin of Souls.
Parts of Startide Rising were published as "The Tides of Kithrup" in the May 1981 issue of Analog. The Tides of Kithrup was an early title of the novel; uncorrected proofs of the novel that still bear that title have become collector's items.
[edit] Plot summary
In the year 2489 C.E.[1], Terran spaceship Streaker — crewed by 150 uplifted dolphins, seven humans, and one uplifted chimpanzee — discovers a derelict fleet of spaceships the size of small moons in a shallow cluster. The captain's gig is sent to investigate but is destroyed along with one of the derelict craft — killing 10 crew members. Streaker manages to recover some artifacts from the destroyed derelict and one well-preserved alien body. The crew of Streaker uses psi-cast to inform Earth of their discovery and to send a hologram of the alien.
When Streaker receives a reply, it's in code. Decrypted, it says only: “Go into hiding. Await Orders. Do not reply.” Attempting to comply, Streaker is ambushed at the Morgan transfer point and pursued by opposing fleets of fanatical alien races — all of them desiring to obtain the co-ordinates of the shallow cluster Streaker discovered, and none of them willing to let their enemies obtain the co-ordinates.
The novel begins about one month[2] after the discovery in the shallow cluster as Streaker arrives on the planet Kithrup in an attempt to hide and make repairs. Almost immediately, the aliens begin to arrive — dashing Streaker's hopes of hiding, but some time remains for repairs when the alien armadas begin fighting each other.
A Thennanin dreadnought is damaged during the fighting and crashes into the ocean near Streaker's hiding place. The resultant tsunami strands several crew and causes several of the uplifted dolphins (called NeoFins) to panic and revert to an instinctual, pre-uplifted mental state. Some of the stranded crew encounter pre-sentient natives (called Kiqui).
Meanwhile, on Streaker, several crew members secretly plan a mutiny and defection while the officers plan to salvage parts from the Thennanin wreck. Streaker cannot be moved for fear of detection and because of the ongoing repairs, and so the salvage team uses undersea transportation to get to the wreck. The salvage team discovers the wreck's hull is mostly undamaged, and the Terrans format a plan to hide Streaker inside the Thennanin dreadnought and make their escape. As a bonus, several crew members salvage the Thennanin dreadnought's micro-branch of the galactic library for comparison with the Streaker's own micro-branch library, as Earth suspects their libraries have been sabotaged by the senior patron races.
The mutinous crew, led by Takkata-Jim, cripple Captain Creideiki. Before he can be caught, Takkata-Jim flees in a shuttle, but the shuttle is sabotaged by the loyal crew, and Takkata-Jim is sent into the middle of the battle over Kithrup with his guns locked on auto-fire and his radio disabled. The shuttle is quickly destroyed.
Streaker almost escapes without incident hidden in the Thennanin hull, but is confronted by several ships belonging to Brothers of the Night (Brethren). Streaker’s disguise is good, but the Brethren challenge Streaker’s disguise to ritual battle. Streaker is saved when six Thennanin ships — who think they're saving one of their own — drive off the Brethren. Streaker then flees to the transfer point, and before fleeing, sends a transmission mocking the alien armadas.
The dolphins in the novel speak three languages: Primal, Trinary and Anglic. Primal and Trinary are represented as haiku-esque poems (two of the human characters quote Yosa Buson), while Anglic is a hypothetical English-derivative, rendered for the reader as standard English.
The book shifts point of view frequently from character to character, ranging from humans, to dolphins, to a number of the alien races which are trying to destroy, capture, or help the Streaker. This allows the reader to get some idea of how the crew of the Streaker fits within the larger context of Galactic affairs. All of the alien races described in this book are further described and illustrated in the book Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe
[edit] Film Version
A screenplay, written by Trevor Sands and based on the book, is currently in development at Mace Neufeld Productions. It's title is also "Startide Rising".
[edit] See also
- Akeakamai A neo-dolphin member of the Streaker's crew, named in honor of the real-life dolphin from Louis Herman's animal language research.
- Cetacean intelligence
| Preceded by No Enemy But Time by Michael Bishop |
Nebula Award for Best Novel 1983 |
Succeeded by Neuromancer by William Gibson |
| The Uplift series |
| Sundiver (1980) | Startide Rising (1983) | The Uplift War (1987) |
| Uplift Storm trilogy |
| Brightness Reef (1995) | Infinity's Shore (1996) | Heaven's Reach (1998) |
